Stephen Marchione Carvetop Setneck VT

With the debut of his Carvetop Setneck VT, Stephen Marchione has once again flexed his lutherie muscle and simultaneously reset the bar on what an S-style guitar can be. Borrowing aspects from both LP and Strat build styles, Marchione has created a guitar that is amazingly responsive, stunning to behold and an absolute joy to play. Stephen wanted to build a guitar that bridged the gap between his VT and Semi Hollow models. All I can say is that he really nailed it!

If you are a Strat player it will feel like home, but is sonically much more than you’d expect from this style guitar.

First, the notes are extremely articulate. There are no dead spots or unevenness. I can only describe it by comparing it to putting a great guitar's signal gently through a vintage optical compressor. The notes are fattened up, and the sonic peaks are evened out. This guitar is almost piano-like in its consistency and clarity. You really have to hear it and play it to understand exactly what I'm trying to communicate.

As with all Marchione guitars, the fretwork and setup are sublime. The neck shape starts out a very soft V (.87" at the first fret), and has a beautiful taper as it fills out to a C shape at the 12th fret. It feels sublime and with very low action, plays like a Ferrari of guitars.

Stephen's wood selection is second to none. The exquisite curly maple top, the old growth mahogany body and neck and the African ebony fingerboard are all drawn from the best of the best. The builder's woodworking mastery is evident everywhere you look at this guitar, from the neck joint - only hide glue is used - to all the joinery; it's stealthy, elegant and perfect.

The versatility of this new model is evident in that it will allow you to express yourself in any genre. From my point of view, it's one of those rare instruments that has no limits to what is stylistically possible.

Bottom line; I think the real magic here is in how a single builder can conceive all the details and then execute them as a complete thought into one beautiful bespoke guitar. It's all here, this Marchione needs to be experienced. If you want something really special, well, this Marchione Carvetop Setneck is certainly worthy.

If you'd like to find out more about this item, just call or e-mail me. It would be my pleasure to talk to you about it.

ABOUT MARCHIONE GUITARS
At one time in his life, Stephen Marchione spent six hours a day playing the guitar. Now he makes them—in fact, since beginning his career as a guitar maker in 1989, Stephen has created more than three-hundred guitars for some of the best guitar players in the world. The journey from high-school jazz devotee to “the finest young guitar maker working today,” according to Chamber Music America, was a rich and complicated one. After establishing his own brand and working for several years in New York, Stephen Marchione moved to Houston, Texas, where he builds his entire family of guitars, but Marchione has also studied privately since 1994 with Manhattan-based violin maker Guy Rabut. "I try to build one violin a year to keep my chops up" Says Marchione. He feels that building classical guitars and violins broadens his understanding of top thicknessing, tap tuning, and surface preparation. On the other hand, building electric guitars has taught him the importance of the fretboard in a player's appreciation of a guitar. Marchione is considered one of a very few leading-edge pioneers in the design of guitars that combine elements of both jazz and classical construction. This well-rounded approach contributes to the magic one finds in a Marchione instrument, a magic that is at once very broad yet truly individual.